Page 36 of The Mafia King's Stolen Fiancée

“We meet again, Chanler. And this time, you have a penance to pay.”

“You said your boss won’t let you kill me,” he whined.

“True. But when it comes to Vivienne, I’m pretty much unhinged. I’ll do whatever I think is necessary to keep her safe and happy. And honestly, I can’t say I won’t enjoy taking payment for what you’ve cost her. Us.”

He began to cry, and I rolled my eyes, then looked at Alec and jerked my head toward the warehouse. Dragging Chet with them, they followed me inside and back to the room where the would-be kidnappers were once again strung up.

“I know you never actually met the idiots you hired to snatch my woman, so let me introduce you. Well, I don’t actually know or care what their names are. I’ve come up with many creativeones to use. I digress, though. A face-to-face meeting wasn’t the purpose for our stop along the way to the room I have set up, just for you.”

Chet struggled against his bindings, and Liam boxed his ear. “Stop squirming and pay attention to the boss’s lesson, asshole.”

For the next twenty or so minutes, Chet was forced to stand there and watch as I tortured the goons, then ultimately shot them between the eyes.

King handed me a wet rag to clean my blood-soaked hands as I turned to look at Chet. “Your turn.”

After several hours of making Chet regret he was ever born, much less the things he’d done to women over the years, I contemplated just how far I wanted to push my relationship with Nic. He had several valid reasons for wanting Chet to remain alive. And the sick bastard would be monitored for the rest of his life.

Sighing, I began to put away the tools I’d used. “I can get away with a lot of shit since I’m Nic’s right-hand man and cousin. Of course, I’ve earned that leniency because I’ve rarely defied him. You, I’ve decided, are not worth the friction that killing you would put between me and the boss. So today is the luckiest day you’re ever going to have.”

I walked over to stand directly in front of Chet and felt the presence of several men creating a wall behind me.

“When you leave here, I expect you to crawl into the shadows and stay the fuck there. If I see you in the spotlight, for even one minute, or if I catch a glimpse of you within hundreds of miles of Vivienne, it will be the last time you see anything at all.”

Chet whimpered, and I shoved my fist into his gut one last time.

“And know this, there is nowhere on this earth that you can go where we can’t find you. You won’t be just hiding from the Family.”

“You’ll have the Silver Saints on your ass,” Mac growled.

“And the Iron Rogues,” Fox added.

“We won’t watch you. If you attract the attention of the Hounds of Hellfire, I’ll probably just kill you,” King drawled.

“The Family’s associates are every-fucking-where,” I told him, the dispassionate and calm side of me taking over once more.

I pivoted and lifted my chin at my brothers in silent thanks, receiving nods from each of them as well.

“Dump him somewhere his family will find him,” I ordered Alec. “I’m going home.”

15

VIVIENNE

My worry about rambling around Rafa’s mansion by myself while he was gone turned out to be unnecessary. About an hour after he left, Gabbi showed up with their mother in tow. They had apparently been giving us space to get to know each other better but decided that wasn’t necessary any longer since I had been left to my own devices.

Rafa didn’t know it yet, but he owed his sister something extravagant. Not only had she distracted me from my fear about what was going on, she also scored him major brownie points by sharing lots of stories about what an amazing big brother he was. ThenMammaGiulia—who insisted I call her that even though my place in her son’s life hadn’t truly been decided yet—broke out the big guns…baby pictures.

It was nearly impossible to hold on to my anger when I had visions of him as an adorable, dark-haired, brown-eyed baby in my head. They also made it all too easy to picture the children we could make together—including the one that might already be inside my womb. Something I tried not to think about around hismammabecause what we’d done to possibly put it there made me blush furiously.

MammaGiulia was as sweet as could be, but she was also very astute. Something I’d learned over the past twenty-four or so hours.

Tapping the photo in front of me, she smiled widely. “My Rafa will make beautifulbambini, eh?”

My cheeks burned even hotter, and Gabbi giggled. I narrowed my eyes at her before returning her mother’s smile. “Yes, he will.”

A sly gleam shone from her dark eyes, so similar to her son’s. “Anduna bella ragazzalike you will, too.”

It took every ounce of my willpower not to allow my gaze to drop to my flat stomach. It didn’t matter that there wasn’t a single sign I was pregnant. She would know what I was thinking. “I hope so…someday.”

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